European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice (ECJ) Created in its present form by the Treaty of Rome in 1957, it emerged originally from the ECSC. Its role has been to pronounce over supranational law common to all members of the EEC and its successors, the European Community and the EU. In this role, it has often been described as a ‘motor’ for European integration, since it created a quasi-constitutional legal order that was at best implied in the founding treaties of the EEC and its successors. In 1963, it established the doctrine of direct effect in its Van Gend en Loos decision, which stated that European Community law was directly applicable to citizens of European member states. This was followed by the 1964 Costa v. Enel pronouncement of supremacy, which stated that European Community law took precedence over national law. With the importance of the ECJ thus established, the 1970s saw a large upsurge in ECJ pronouncements, which were made with reference to Art. 177 of the Treaty of Rome. This stipulated that national and regional courts could directly refer legal decisions to the ECJ for an opinion of its compatibility with European law. The 1980s saw a number of challenges in the supreme courts of EC member states to the principle that EC law was supreme over national law even on constitutional matters. But by the late 1990s all supreme courts had accepted the constitutional status of EU law, albeit not unconditionally. The activism and success of the ECJ led to lively discussions as to whether a European Constitutional Convention was desirable, or even necessary. The ECJ with its seat in Luxemburg is not to be confused with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) with its seat in Strasburg.

http://curia.eu.int